Prophecy Children
by In Darkness Is Light
Summary: The Canadian tournament was supposed to be a push-over, an easy win for the Bladebreakers and their tag team. So why did it seem that things were only becoming increasingly difficult in a way that had almost nothing at all to do with the tournament?
1. Meet The Mystics!

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, except for my OC, Julia. I also do not own anything else but this story!**

**AN: In this fic, the Bladebreakers will have not yet met Mariam, Salima, or Hilary. They meet them here for the first time!**

It was a rainy day and the bladebreakers were all in Kai's mansion. Kai was chasing around Tyson because he had eaten all of their food. Kai was just about to strangle him when they heard a knock on the door. Tyson answered it and there was Mr.Dickenson.

"Why hello boys, so nice to see you all again!" Mr. Dickenson greeted them.

"It's good to see you too Mr.Dickenson, and I'm not being rude or anything, but you haven't come to visit for a while. Is there something you needed to tell us or something?"

"Oh, yes, there is another reason why I'm here. I needed to inform you of the new World Tournament coming up. This time it will be in Canada."

"Oh man, that's so sweet!" Tyson exclaimed excitedly, "another tournament to conquer!"

Mr. Dickenson laughed at the boy's enthusiasm and continued on with more information about the tournament. "Yes. But the rules have changed. You need to have two teams to form 1 big team. I guess that will bring new meaning to the term tag team! You shall be meeting your other members soon! Here are the plane tickets and I hope to see you boys in Canada!"

Mr.D left and soon the boys were talking about the tournament.

"Oh man," Ray said, "I can't wait for this new tournament, I'm so stoked! And the fact that we'll be blading with another team! It's going to be so much fun!"

"Yeah", Max agreed, "I can't wait to see who we get paired up with!"

"I'll bet they're a bunch of weaklings," Kai stated harshly.

"Oh, don't be such an old sourpuss!" Tyson told him. "Anyway, we've got to get packing, this plane leaves the day after tomorrow!"

They all got packed and flew to Canada.

2 days and 18 hours later…

"Hello boys!" Mr.Dickenson greeted the Bladebreakers as they came off the plane. "Glad you made it! Your team will be here shortly!"

"Alright!" The Bladebreakers, minus Kai, exclaimed, obviously excited at the prospect of meeting new people.

"A little background information," Mr.Dickenson started talking again, "the team you will be paired up with are the Mystics. They are, like you, a very good international team, and oh look, here they come now!"

The Bladebreakers all looked up and saw 4 girls walking up to Mr. Dickenson.

"Hello girls!" the old man said cheerfully, "These are the Bladebreakers, the team you're going to be paired up with. Boys, these are the Mystics."

_**Profiles**_

**Team:** Mystics

**Leader:** Julia Kon

**Teammates:** Mariam Saint, Hilary Tatibana, and Salima Grey

**Name:** Julia Kon

**Age:** 14

**Nationality:** Chinese/Japanese/Canadian/Russian (Born in Japan, Raised in Russia, Lives in Canada, family is Chinese)

**Appearance:** Brown shoulder length hair and brown eyes

**Dresses:** Crimson Polo, Black Skort, White Tennis Shoes

**Name:** Mariam Saint **Age:** 14

**Nationality:** Spanish

**Appearance:** Navy/Indigo Waist length hair tied in a high ponytail and surrounded by a red headband thing, emerald green eyes

**Dresses:** Blue Jeans, Emerald Halter Top, Running Shoes

**Name:** Hilary Tatibana **Age:** 14

**Nationality:** Japanese

**Appearance:** Spiky brown shoulder length hair and amber eyes

**Dresses:** Dark pink mini skirt with a diamond studded butterfly in the bottom right corner, light pink shirt with dark pink Japanese writing on it, Running Shoes

**Name:** Salima Grey **Age:** 14

**Nationality:** Japanese

**Appearance:** Mid back length red spiky hair and charcoal eyes

**Dresses:** Purple and Black Gingham T-shirt, Black Shorts, Converse

Kai gave them an once-over before disinterestedly saying, "Look like a bunch of weaklings to me."

Ray, gasped, obviously shocked at Kai's rude behaviour. He gave the boy a disapproving look before turning to the girls. "I'm sorry, he's just like that sometimes, doesn't really take to people."

"Oh, that's fine Ray, besides he doesn't really mean it, now do you Kai?" The leader of the team stepped in front of the bladebreakers, giving the boys a smirk.

"Julia!" Both boys exclaimed.

She laughed as Ray came over, surprised, and engulfed her in a hug. "It's so good to see you!"

"It's good to see you too Ray, I've missed you"

"I've missed you too!"

She gave him one last squeeze before pulling away, and moving next to Kai. "Hey Kai!" she said, giving him a wide grin, "My, how you've grown!"

"Same goes for you," he said, a small smile gracing his normally stoic face. "You've definitely grown more than a few inches since I've last seen you!"

The rest of the Bladebreakers and Mystics looked on in confusion at the 3 teens, before reverting their attention to Tyson, who was almost yelling. "Alright, alright! Enough with this! Spill it! How do you know each other?"

"Oh, sorry guys. Bladebreakers, this is Julia, my sister." Ray told the rest of this team.

"And girls," Julia began talking to the Mystics, "I've known Kai since he was five. We were best friends when we were younger and we grew up together, in the same place. After he left, I left too, and I came to live with some of my family in Canada, where I met you guys. Ray was still living in the old village at that time, and he'll probably always go back to live there, but I've never really fit in much back home. Especially, since I left so early."

"Yeah, but I'm guessing that Tyson was more surprised that I was showing any emotion, let alone smiling." Kai added in.

"Well," Mr. Dickenson interrupted, "I don't want to stop this happy reunion of friends and family, but we really must be going to the Hazelton Hotel."

The rest of the team followed the man to a limousine that was patiently waiting outdoors. It took them to the luxury hotel, where Mr.Dickenson told them more about the room arrangement.

"I have reserved for you guys a deluxe suite, which has 4 separate rooms attached to a common room, which has a kitchen and living room. In each of the 4 separate rooms, there is a bathroom, a closet, and two queen sized beds. I will entrust each of you with a key to the room. Goodbye, and good luck in the tournament!"

The teams wished Mr.Dickenson goodbye, and proceeded to enter the room. What they saw awed them all.

In the main common room, there was an open space concept design. Two large leather couches were placed side by side on the north wall, in front of them, a glass coffee table with stainless steel table legs, and a silver spiral bowl filled with fruit adorned the coffee table. The floor was mainly of a black slate tiling, except in the places where there were rugs. Across from the couches, on the south wall, there was a 50" plasma TV hung on the wall. Beneath it, an electric fireplace gave the impression of a realistic fire burning, also giving the room a warm glow. The walls were painted a soft cream color and on either side of the couches, there were stands with square shaped lamps on them.

The kitchen was to the right of the living room. It was small but came complete with granite countertops, and cherry oak cabinets. The sink was large, and stainless steel with two ornate glass taps. The fridge was also stainless steel, and the stove was a glossy black. A microwave hung from between two cabinets, almost directly over the stove, but a little further left. From the kitchen, there was a small hallway, leading to a small space that held the laundry room. It was small and simple, with just enough room to maneuver around, but had all the essentials in it. There was of course, the washer and dryer, but there was also an ironing board, complete with iron, and a stand on which you could hang clothes to dry. Beside the dryer there was a large sink to wash anything that needed to be hand washed. Of course, they would be there for a few months for the tournament, so it was very important to have all the essentials in their hotel.

To the left of the living room were four doors, each leading to a room. Each room was very large, and had cream walls on the right, and an espresso wall on the left. Slate tiles decorated the floor in the bedroom as well. There were two queen beds, side by side, with only a nightstand with a lamp and hotel phone keeping the distance. The bed sheets were white, the big pillows were a shiny gold material, and the blankets and throw pillows were a coffee brown. On the opposite wall, there was another couch, this time one covered in espresso fabric, and with a coffee table in front of it. Directly opposite the coffee table, there was the desk. Made of espresso colored wood, it had a reclining chair, and a silver lamp hung from the walls, giving light. Brochures of what to do in the city covered the desk, obviously to entertain and help a tourist. Finally, on the back wall there was a large floor-length window with an outdoor balcony, which showed a beautiful view of the city and the many trees that were covered in snow. The sunlight from outside made them sparkle and shimmer, dazzling those who looked outside with all its glamour.

To the left of the window there was a large door, which opened to reveal a spacious and large walk-in closet, complete with drawers, coat hangers, and granite tops to place your shoes. In it was also a large vanity mirror, with Hollywood, picturesque lights coming down from above, and a granite countertop, complete with tray to put your makeup and whatnot on.

To the right of the windows was a bathroom. Green grey-ish marble tiles adorned the floor walls, and counters, leaving a sparkling polished effect to the room. The bathroom was so large that it seemed like a hallway. At the end of the "hallway", there was the toilet and across from that, the shower. Near the front of the bathroom there was the sink and its countertop, taking up more than half of the room. Long and sufficiently wide, the marble countertop gave much space to store bathroom essentials, as well as small, open shelves which held the towels. Across from the sink, was the bathtub. Large, white, and spacious, it could have easily held more than one person. There was a small wall separating the far end of the bathroom from the front of it, which gave privacy to both people if one wanted to take a shower and the other wanted a bath.

After exploring their rooms, and somewhat unpacking, the teams met back in the common room.

"This hotel is amazing!" Hilary said, the first one to talk.

"Yea!" Max agreed, "Mr. Dickenson's really outdone himself this time!"

"It is very amazing," Julia agreed with the both of them, "but we're here for a tournament, which means we have to focus our minds on that, not on this glamorous hotel room. Marvel tonight, while you can, because tomorrow training starts at 8am, sharp!"

A sound of collective groans was heard at the mention of the word training. Even though they were reluctant to ever leave the hotel room, they knew that Julia was right; they couldn't lose themselves in all this. They had to focus. A bit grumpily, everyone went off to bed, not really bothering to unpack much, just their toiletries and an outfit for tomorrow.


	2. And The Training Begins

The next morning the two teams both found that they were rather reluctant to get up. After some grumbling and fighting the will to just go back to sleep, they all got up and were downstairs by 8am. The boys just wore what they normally wore, while the girls all wore matching track suits in different colors, consisting of a zip up hoodie, a tank top, and a pair of shorts. Julia wore Crimson ones, Mariam wore Emerald ones, Hilary wore pink ones, and Salima wore black ones.

Julia had decided that, as the leader of her team, she was going to be one of the people to dictate the training practices. Kai, as the leader of his team and the one who usually got them moving, decided that he was going to train his team. They were about to go off separately when Salima suggested that it would make more sense to just train together, seeing as they'd have to tag team for the tournament. Agreeing to this, Julia and Kai decided they would share the duties of coaching and training their team.

Training started out without beyblades. The teams were going to work on their physical aspects before any blading could be done. They were made to run around the track, provided in the hotel's private practice gym, and did other common things such as sit ups. Halfway through the running, Tyson came up with a smart idea. "Hey guys," he called to the rest of the team, "I have an idea! What if we do a three-legged race?"

"This isn't the time for games, Tyson", scolded Kai.

"I'm not seeing it that way! I mean, we could train together and learn to be in sync physically if we could run a three-legged race."

"Hmm," Julia said thoughtfully, "that's actually a pretty good idea! Alright, everyone partner up!"

Tyson and Salima partnered up, Max and Hilary partnered up, and Ray was left with Mariam, seeing as Kai and Julia were nearly always the main team. They tied up the legs of the others, before tying up their own. "On your marks, get set, go!" shouted Max, singaling the start of the race. Max and Hilary were the first to fall behind, with Tyson and Salima tripping over them right after. It was down to Ray and Mariam, and Kai and Julia. For a moment, it seemed like Ray and Mariam would win, but at the last minute, Julia sped off, making her team the winner.

Exhausted after the physical training, the teams went to go have lunch before returning to practice in the bey stadium. Julia put them into pairs: Max and Mariam, Tyson and Hilary, Ray and Salima, and Kai and her. Though they could have easily split up and each started their own match, Julia told them to stay put and to watch each battle, so as to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the other opponents.

Kai and Julia were the first up to battle. For a while it seemed that Kai was going to win it all, no sweat, but Julia quickly came back and now the tides had turned. After an intense match, both blades landed outside of the dish, making it a tie. As for the others; Mariam had won her battle, Ray won his, and Tyson won his. They switched who they were battling a few times and then tried two-on-two matches, before calling it a day.

After having finished practicing, Julia suggested that someone go out and get groceries for dinner. Ray agreed, and the two of them went off in search for a grocery store. It didn't take them long to find one, and after about an hour, they had bought enough food for a week. Quickly, they paid and put the bags with groceries in knapsacks they had brought with them. Ray had offered to cook that night, as long as someone else cleaned up. Max volunteered to help clean up, and in no time, Ray had made a meal of Chicken Noodle Soup, Dumplings, Spring Rolls, and Beijing style pork, along with steamed rice and vegetables.

During dinner, Julia promised them that tomorrow at training she'd teach them something that no one else knew about. Eager to know more about said tricks, the rest of them were constantly asking questions about what it was, only to receive an answer that confused them even more.

When it was time to go to bed, it was decided that the rooms should be switched up a bit. Julia put them in the same pairs as the training pairs, and sent everyone off to bed early, telling them that they'd need rest for tomorrow.

Much to their dismay, the teams had to sacrifice personal relaxation time in exchange for the ability to train for the tournament.

In Kai and Julia's room however, that was the least of the problems. She had just started telling Kai something that would definitely seem strange and supernatural.

"I have to tell you something important," she had told him.

"What is it?" he had asked, a bit more curious then perhaps need be.

"Ok, here goes nothing. I know this is going to sound really weird, but our teams are part of a prophecy."

"A prophecy? What prophecy?"

"It goes like this. Millions of years ago there were 8 bit beasts that ruled the world. They were couples like husband and wife couple. The bit beasts that ruled the west were the tiger and tigress, Drigger and Driggara, the ones who ruled the east were the two sea turtles, Draciel and Draciela, the ones that ruled the north were the dragon and dragoness, Dragoon and Dragoona, and finally the ones who ruled the south were the phoenix and the pheonixess, Dranzer and Dranzera" Julia paused, to let it all sink in.

Kai just stared at her, silent and with wide eyes. She took this as a sign to continue.

"But after living happily a while an enemy came that had a force like no other in this world. The couples tried to fight them but failed miserably and were sentenced to be trapped in this little spinning top and to be handed down through the generations until the next millennia when they would fight the evil again. My little trick has something to do with the prophecy and you shall see it tomorrow."

"So, wait, what does this mean? That we're all going to get married or something?"

"I don't know," Julia replied honestly, "I think it may just mean we have to work together. I mean it could always be 'fate' and yet, I really doubt that it is."

"Yeah, I mean, our teams barely know each other"

"Still, I've paired up everyone the way the prophecy was made, so hopefully, it'll all be alright."

"Yeah, I hope so too. Well, we need to get some rest, this prophecy thing can wait till the morning."

With that, the last of the team went to sleep, all but Julia secretly anticipating what trick they'd be taught next day.

Morning came, and with it, came the sound of groans and yawns as Julia walked into the rooms and pulled back the curtains, letting the sunlight hit the eyes of the room's occupants. They grumbled, and some even cursed her, yet all she told them was to get dressed for training and come to the common room for breakfast. After the breakfast of pancakes and fruit, she took them all down to the training room, where she could see the excited looks on their faces as they waited to find out what she was going to teach them.

"Ok," she started, "I promised you an amazing trick but it will start with an amazing story. You are all part of a prophecy and this is it. Long ago about a million years, bit beasts ruled the world. Salima and Ray's bitbeasts ruled the west, Max and Mariam's the east, Tyson and Hilary's the north and Kai's and mine the south. You see the bit beasts were very happy couples until one day when there came an evil so great that they couldn't defeat it so they got trapped in spinning tops and have been handed down throughout the generations. After a millennia, it is said that the evil would come out and these bitbeasts, along with their owners, would finally defeat it. But first, they must learn how to harness its true power. This year marks that millennia, and we are the ones who need to harness the power and defeat the evil. Now, I've already learnt the trick that harnesses the power of the bitbeasts, and today, so will you. Be reminided that this is only meant to be used for the evil in the prophecy. This pays no relation to tournament training whatsoever, unless it's seen as bit beast bonding time. Ok, now you guys have to watch and learn!"

Julia closed her eyes, and concentrated. She yelled out, "Go Dranzera! Ring of White Fire!" As soon as she had yelled out the attack, her eyes snapped open, revealing white flames in her eyes, and her hands were holding a ring of white fire, as it was blazing furiously. Everyone watched on in awe as they saw the leader of the Mystics holding fire in her hands, and she wasn't being burnt! After calming down, Julia returned back to normal, and opened her eyes, the brown orbs watching as everyone seemed to stare at her as if she'd grown a second head.

After getting over the initial shock of what they'd seen, a bunch of "Cool!"s and 'Wow's!' could be heard coming from the rest of her team.

"Well," she said, "see what I just did? I'm going to teach you to do the same, just with your bit beasts attacks. Who wants to volunteer?" she asked, and seeing that everyone had grown fear in their eyes, she decided that she'd have to pick someone. "Alright, no volunteers? Well then, thank you Kai, for being our first volunteer! The rest of you can just talk or battle or whatever, I'll do this one on one."

Kai walked beside her as she led them to the opposite side of the training room.

"Ok Kai, you're going to need to concentrate. Just focus on one of Dranzer's attacks and try to make it yours."

Kai nodded, and closed his eyes. Silence filled the room, and it almost seemed like everyone was holding their breath. It was broken only when Kai shouted, "Dranzer! Flame saber!" As soon as he did, everyone but Julia gasped because he was now holding a sword engulfed in flames. As everyone seemed to stare at him, Julia began clapping, obviously pleased that he'd been able to do it.

Next up was Ray.

"Alright, brother. You know the drill. Concentrate on an attack and make it yours."

Ray, being the very Zen person he was, went practically into meditation before calling out, "Drigger! Tiger Claw Attack!"

Again, everyone went silent as they saw Ray's hands turn into metal claws. Julia once again applauded congratulations, and moved on to the next person. This continued until everyone had had a chance to turn an attack into their own.

"Draciela!" Mariam shouted, "Hurricane Wave!"

"Driggara!" yelled Salima, "Tigress Scratch!"

"Draciel!" Max called, "Aqua Shield!"

"Dragoona" Hilary yelled, "Wind Wave!"

"Alright," said Julia, "last but not least, Tyson!"

"Dragoon!" Tyson roared, "Evolution Storm!"

After seeing that everyone had more or less gotten the hang of it on their first try, Julia let them practice a bit on their own for 30 minutes, before notifying them that training had finished for the day.

"Ok people!" she announced, "We are officially done for the day! I suggest we pick out a movie and just kick back tonight and celebrate!"

After hearing everyone agree, they made their way back to the hotel room, where Mariam took out her collection of DVD's. Most of them were movies the Bladebreakers hadn't even heard about, but they agreed to the movie that was selected by the Mystics in the end. Though the movie was called Valentine, it was anything but a romantic comedy.

"Ok, we swear to you that this is not a romantic comedy! Basically, four friends start to receive morbid valentine day cards. Someone out there is stalking them...someone they all spurned when they were younger. And Valentines Day 2001 is the Day she/he gets their revenge. This is like a horror movie, so I think you guys will like it!" Salima told them.

They all watched the movie, and collective gasping was heard when the horrendous killings of the friends occurred, or when something suddenly popped out or happened. Even though the girls had already seen this movie, it never ceased to frighten them every time they watched it.

When the movie had finished, Max turned off the TV, sending the teens into pitch black darkness. A few shrieks were heard as soon as he did this, and Ray, being the closest to the light switch, quickly flicked it back on, hearing sighs of relief when he did so.

Seeing as it was already nearly midnight, Ray suggested that they all go to bed and get some rest. The teens all went to their respective rooms, the same pairs that were sharing rooms last night, shared tonight.

**In Max and Mariam's room:**

"After that movie I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight!" cried out Max.

"Yeah, even though I've seen it so many times, it still creeps me out the same every time!"

"What day is it tomorrow, Mariam? Do you know?"

"February 14th, why?"

"Oh, just wondering"

At this Mariam knew why he was asking, and got playfully suspicious.

"Why's that? Did you forget what day it was today?" she asked him, one eyebrow raised knowingly, a smirk on her face.

Max blushed a bit before responding, "Uh, yeah, I forgot what day it was"

"Really now?" she asked, her smirk widening, "Are you sure you weren't trying to send some hidden message?"

Knowing that she'd caught on, he decided to play along. "I don't know, did you want there to be some hidden message?" he smirked back.

It was Mariam's turn to blush. She seemed to retreat shyly for a moment, before regaining her confidence. "So what if I did? Is there one?"

"I think you know the answer to that," Max smiled, catching her off guard by giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and leaving for the bathroom.

Shutting the door, he heard two simultaneous sighs, one that he'd been holding in and one the seemed a bit more high pitched, coming from Mariam. Hearing her sigh, he smiled, and wondered if maybe for them, the prophecy would come true in all senses of the words.

**In Hilary and Tyson's Room:**

"Oh my god, wasn't that movie so creepy Tyson?"

"Yes! Are you kidding me? I'm afraid to even go to sleep because I think Cupid might come and kill me!"

"Well, I think I'm more scared than you are!" Hilary said.

"Nuhuh"

"Yahuh"

"Nuhuh"

"Yahuh"

Outside their room, an owl hooted, making the two teen's hair stand on end. Frightened they jumped on to one another. When they realized the position they were in, both blushed and turned away, afraid that the other might see their embarrassment and blunt like for the other.

"S-sorry Tyson," Hilary was the first one to choke out an apology.

"N-no Problem, Hils. Don't worry about it." Stuttered back Tyson.

"Alright, this is too painfully obvious for me not to do anything about it. I like you Tyson" Hilary told the boy bluntly.

Shocked at first by her forwardness, his eyes widened, before calming down and replying, "I like you too Hils"

**In Ray and Salima's Room:**

"Why did we have to choose such a scary movie?" Salima wheezed, her heart beating rapidly.

"We didn't choose it, you guys did! Besides, haven't you already seen it?"

"I've never been able to watch the whole thing through, it's strange that I could now," she replied.

"Why have you never watched it all before?"

"Because I usually faint," she said, and not a second had passed after the words escaped her mouth, that her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell backwards.

Ray was alarmed but yet his reflexes were quick as ever. In one quick scoop, his right arm was supporting Salima's back. Her eyes quickly opened, frightened when she realized that she wasn't on the ground.

Hearing a voice but not being able to recognize who was speaking or what they were saying, and feeling someone holding her up, she got up quickly and knocked heads with Ray.

As soon as she realized who had let her not fall to the floor, she blushed and apologized multiple times. "Oh my gosh Ray! I am so sorry! I didn't know it was you!" She was about to apologize more but she heard him saying something, and she was pretty sure he wasn't talking to himself.

"Did you say something Ray?"

Holding his head in pain, through gritted teeth, he managed to force out a small smile before saying, "I asked you if you wanted to be my Valentine"

Overcome with shock, Salima nearly passed out again, giving Ray a heart attack. Of course, she ALMOST passed out. Picking herself back up, she gave him a small smile before replying, "I'd love to"

**In Kai and Julia's Room:**

"Could you have picked a scarier movie?" he asked.

Smirking she replied, "Why, I thought you weren't scared of anything"

"I'm not, it's my team. They're going to have nightmares. Tyson might even wet himself."

Laughing, Julia asked, "Is that you're secret way of saying you care for them?"

Looking down upon her emotionlessly, he said, "Of course not. I'm Kai Hiwatari, I don't care about anyone."

Julia scoffed and a small smile formed on his lips. "Yeah right" she said.

"So," he asked her, "what have you been doing in life until now? I mean, I haven't seen you since, well, since we were 7."

"Well, you left the abbey and I didn't have a best friend anymore. Tala was with me for a while and he kept me company really well, but then he got brainwashed by those Boris and he turned into a Biovolt zombie. When he wasn't training, he was being put in a tank, and being pumped up with all kinds of enhancers. Anyway, when I was ten, Tala became normal again and helped me escape. He was supposed to come with me too, but they got to him first. Well, after that, I worked a year for a baker and finally got enough money to go to China in the off-season. I went to White Tiger Hills where I stayed with Ray until I was 13, and then I left for Canada with a beyblading sponsorship from Mr.Dickenson."

"Wow, you sure went through a lot more then I did," he said. "I'm really glad you're back though."

"Me too," she smiled.

They stared at each other for a few moments, before Kai cleared his throat.

"Ahem, well, good night then."

"Night Kai," she responded.

And with that, the last of the teens fell asleep.


	3. Julia's Mansion

The next day, as I'm sure you all have guessed by now, was Valentine's Day. The boys, for once, had all managed to get up rather early in the morning and now were all in the common room, talking.

"So," Ray asked, "did everyone find a valentine for today?" he winked at the boys.

All the boys, minus, Kai, gave an affirmative nod.

"So, you don't have a valentine Kai?" Ray asked him.

Kai sighed in annoyance at the question and made no move to respond.

"It doesn't really matter," Max reminded Ray, "he's Julia's best friend, so we'll just count her as his valentine"

Kai growled at the mention of this, though no one was sure if it was in approval or disapproval.

"Alright," said Ray hesitantly, "then I suppose we can put my plan into action!"

"And your plan is?" asked Tyson.

"Well, I was thinking we could go out for dinner today," replied Ray.

"Great idea Ray!" Max and Tyson chimed.

"Yeah, the only problem is, we have to find a restaurant," said Ray.

"I know one," a voice said.

They all turned to where the voice had come from, their eyes widening in shock.

"Kai?" Max asked.

"Hn. There's this one downtown, it's called the Spaghetti Factory. Or, if you wanted to do some sightseeing in the process, there's always the 360 degree revolving restaurant in the CN Tower."

"Kai, I think that's the most we've ever heard you say," Tyson told him.

"Hn" came the reply.

Tyson grinned, "I knew this couldn't last long."

"Guys, quit it," Max told them, "so, which one should we go to?"

"Well, the 360 one may not be such a good idea in case anyone doesn't like heights or gets dizzy real easily. So, I think we should go to the Spaghetti Factory, even though the name is awfully ridiculous," concluded Ray.

"What time should we set it at?" asked Tyson.

"Well, what time is dinner normally?"

"7 should be good," said Max.

"Yeah, 7 sounds good to me. Ok, so 7 PM at the Spaghetti Factory, great. Do you know how to get there Kai?" Ray asked.

"Hn, that's what taxi's are for," he replied coldly.

"Ok, well, let's go get ready to train then," Ray told them, as he began to walk over to the kitchen and start to make breakfast.

The boys nodded and went back into their respective rooms, got their clothes, and occupied the bathrooms, thankful that they didn't have to wait on the girls who were still asleep.

Soon after the boys had finished, the girls woke up as well and got ready for training, unaware of the boys' plans for tonight. Today, they were put into two stations. One side of the training space was used for practicing harnessing their power and making it their own, and the other side was just for normal beybattles. It was a good thing that no one else used this training area, because if they had, they would have seen some pretty freaky things going on, like fire coming out of people hands, their hands transforming into claws, or some other crazy stuff. Once, Kai's power got a little out of hand, engulfing more of him in flames then was necessary. He didn't feel any burning sensation so he wasn't really worried, but from the looks of the others, they were.

Finally, after some moments, Mariam used her hurricane wave attack to extinguish the flames from Kai's flame saber, much to the happiness of the rest of the team. Kai however, was not so thankful for her actions. As soon as her wave had washed over him, he was completely drenched in water, his triangle face paint was running down his face looking something like mascara, and he was spluttering water out his mouth. Through all this, he gave Mariam a glare, who was quite shocked that he was actually wet.

Seeing her confused face, Julia grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. "Hehe," she giggled nervously, "I forgot to tell you guys. Only the wielder of the attack will not feel its effects. That's why Kai's wet, because Mariam is the wielder of Hurricane Wave attack, not Kai. The same goes for her. If Kai had used his Flame Saber attack to help anyone, they'd be engulfed in flames, and would in fact, suffer severe burns."

"Ok," Kai said with a smile that said 'Julia you're dead', "thanks for telling us…I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Julia gave a shriek followed by a wave of giggles as Kai chased her around the room. She kept running, kept running, until she met a wall. Her eyes widened as she hit the wall, and turned around, ready to start running, when Kai showed up right in front of her, forcing her to go back against the wall. They stared at each other, giving the other a challenging glare, before losing focus due to giggles being heard on the other side of the room.

Kai, turning his head, and Julia looking over his shoulder, saw their team trying desperately to suppress laughter. Giving their teammates a 'what' look, Kai and Julia planned to stare them down. It worked because eventually the giggling stopped, mainly because their teams were looking scared for their lives at the maniacal grins and looks Kai and Julia were giving them. Pleased that their tactics had worked, the two teens walked back to the rest of their team and declared that they had the rest of the day off.

Upon hearing this, Tyson and Max rushed along to lunch, while Ray went off to go meditate, Hilary mumbled something about sleep, Mariam and Salima went downstairs to the gift shop, and Kai and Julia decided to stick around a bit more and have some fun beyblading, after Kai got a change of clothes and took a shower of course.

The rest of the day passed without much incident and at 5PM, when they were all in the common room watching TV, Ray told the girls that today the team was going to go out for dinner, and so the girls should get ready. Squealing, Salima and Hilary ran off to their rooms, squealing while Julia and Mariam walked behind them, rolling their eyes at their friends' girly attitudes. Once the girls went to their own rooms and got their clothes and makeup, they all huddled in Julia and Kai's room.

They spread the clothes out on the two beds, and began to try on the many different outfits they had brought over.

"I wonder where we're going that we need to get dressed up so nicely, and why are they just taking us out all of a sudden?" Hilary said while trying on a pink sleeveless shirt.

"Duh, isn't it obvious?" asked Mariam. The other three girls shook their heads. "Oh brother, do I have to spell it out? They're taking us out for Valentine's day!"

A look of understanding appeared on the faces of the other three girls and the room was filled once more with the excited shrieks of Hilary and Salima.

After a few more outfits, the girls heard a bang on the door. "Who is it?" called Julia.

"It's me, Kai."

"What do you want?"

"I need some clothes, obviously."

"Right. Uh, wait one second."

"Ok"

Julia told the girls to just put on something quickly, didn't matter what, just anything because Kai was going to come into the room. Obediently, they just threw on some random things, and after a few moments, Julia called, "Come in!"

Kai walked into the room and saw it littered with various articles of clothing. He then saw the girls, and raised an eyebrow. "I hope those aren't your final outfits," he gestured to their mismatched clothes.

"Of course not you twit! We just had to rush so that you could come and get your clothes!" Mariam told him, obviously offended.

"Hn," came the reply from Kai.

He walked to his closet, and pulled out a few shirts, and a few pairs of slacks, before leaving again.

As soon as he left, the girls all went back to frantically trying to find a perfect outfit and after 30 more minutes, it seemed as if everyone had. Rushing to the bathroom, the girls set up their makeup on the counter along with four chairs, and plugged in a hair straightener and a curler.

The boys, all gathered in Ray's room, were waiting patiently for the girls to finish getting ready. In the meantime, they were engaging in small talk.

"It's too bad the Chief couldn't come this time," said Tyson, "it just doesn't feel really right without him here."

"Yeah," agreed Max, "who's going to analyze our data and give us strategies and tune-ups, if not Kenny?"

"C'mon guys, he needs a break from this stuff sometimes too. Besides, if my parents were going to let me go on a trip around Europe, I'd miss one tournament too," Ray replied.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," agreed Tyson.

Back with the girls; Salima and Mariam were doing their make-up in front of the mirror, while Hilary and Julia were working with the straightener and curler.

"You guys are so lucky," Hilary told the two doing their make-up, "you always have perfect hair. I mean, Salima's may not be either straight or curly, but it always looks good, and Mariam, you have the most perfect straight hair any girl could ask for!"

"Thanks Hils, but you don't exactly need much work on yours either," Mariam told her, and not a second had passed since the words escaped her mouth, that Hilary had put down the straightener and moved up to the mirror to do her make-up.

A few minutes later, Julia too had finished making her hair fall in soft ringlets. It was about another 20 minutes before the girls emerged, ready, and headed to Ray's room to get the boys. When they got to his room, the boys and the girls eyed each other, astonished. Neither could have expected that the other could clean up so well. The boys obviously hadn't gone to the trouble of straightening their hair or putting on make-up, but they still looked amazing. Kai had taken off his face paint, figuring that it wasn't appropriate to have on for the place they were going. The boys stared at the girls, amazed that these were the same girls they had been training with just a few hours ago. Most admirable though, was the fashion sense that both sexes had instilled in them.

Salima was wearing an emerald green halter dress that had a low V-neckline shape. At the waist there was some ruching, giving the appearance of a smaller waist. The dress came just over the knee, in a loose, free flowing, satin form. A pair of gold pumps was her shoes of choice.

Mariam was wearing a Tawny (Dark Orange-y Bronze) strapless dress that came just over the knee. The skirt of the dress was in pleats and an icy blue sapphire bow was tied around the waist. Her heels were of a light blue color heading towards teal, had a closed, rounded top, and were not very high.

Hilary was wearing a Baby blue satin thick strap sleeveless dress with a sweetheart neckline. On the part of the dress covering her breasts, there was a design made to look something like pleats, before finishing off in a sleek simple manner. The back of the dress had a deep V in it, and it hugged until the waist, where it flowed off to the ground. The heels, though covered by the length of the dress, were silver in color.

Julia was wearing a black strapless dress with silver sequins on the right side of the waist, and it came down to just above the knee. The form of the dress was something like that of a pencil skirt, just staying in one straight line that hugged the body. It was paired with black pumps that had a singlewide stripe of silver going across it.

The boys were equally as good looking.

Kai was wearing a pair of black slacks and a crimson red shirt, with a black vest over it and a silver tie.

Ray was wearing a white shirt, black suit (slacks and blazer), and a gold necktie with semi-ornate embroidery.

Tyson was wearing a bold sky blue and chocolate brown vertically striped shirt, with a pair of navy trousers.

Max was wearing a light blue and orange pinstripe shirt, and a midnight blue suit(slacks and blazer), with a gold paisley designed pocket-handkerchief.

From the lobby, they took 2 taxis to the Spaghetti Factory restaurant, where they were promptly seated (mainly because Ray had been smart enough to make reservations and Kai had threatened the owners with the Hiwatari name).

The section in which they were seated was a favorite for all guests. There was a carousel in the middle of the restaurant, obviously not functional, that had a few tables in it. They had been lucky enough to be able to dine inside the amazing carousel, surrounded by beautifully made gold horses. The place in which they sat, was secluded because so many horses surrounded it, therefore they had the utmost of privacy, much to everyone's satisfaction.

The boys pulled the chairs out for the girls to sit in, before taking seats themselves. A few minutes after receiving their menus, a waiter came around to take their order. During the time they waited for their food, they amused themselves with small talk, mainly trying to avoid the topic of Valentine's Day.

Julia was one of the first to speak up. "Hey guys," she started, "there's a very important part of the prophecy that I forgot to tell you about. Though obvious, I do feel the need to share."

"What is it?" asked Ray, as the atmosphere at the table immediately became more serious.

"The enemy will stop at nothing to try and destroy us. This obviously isn't new news, but they may go to extremes such as burning down our hotel. I warned the manager earlier and while I don't think he really believed me, I'm not sure he's willing to take that chance. If by some chance, I am right, it's fine because I have had everything moved to my house. I believe that my housekeepers are there as we speak, bringing your stuff over to my place. The other thing is not so obvious. Remember when I showed you how to make your bit beast's power your own? Well, there's another way as well. Besides using the attacks, you can also change form. If this confuses you, let me give you an example. Kai and I, for example, will be able to sprout wings, and Salima, you and Ray will be able to grow claws and run at abnormally fast speeds."

Silence covered the table, before Max spoke up.

"Wow, this just keeps getting more and more unreal," he said breathlessly.

"Well, I for one, just want to forget about this prophecy thing for tonight!" called out Tyson, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

A chorus of cheers and agreements were heard, and just like that, the conversation was placed in the back of their heads, no longer disturbing them.

Their food came rather quickly, and the atmosphere was immediately livened. As they ate, they discussed more about their lives then anything. The bladebreakers all had stories to share of past tournaments, as did the Mystics, to which the others listened intently, either laughing at the funny events, or being amazed at some of the battles they'd had to face. Before they knew it, it was 10 o'clock and they had finished the food. Though no one really wanted to, Ray suggested that they call it a day. Reluctantly agreeing, they paid and left, stopping only momentarily when they saw their hotel on TV. It had indeed, as Julia predicted, been burnt down. She told them to split up again and take two taxis, or take a big van taxi and go as one group. Luckily for them, they had managed to find just one taxi that could hold all of them, and Julia told the driver to take them to her address. The driver's eyes widened slightly at the address, but he obeyed and was nothing short of exceedingly polite during the whole ride.

After a 20-minute drive, they arrived at their destination. Large iron gates greeted them, blocking the way to a large driveway. At the gates, an intercom system along with an alarm system that set off a bunch of Dobermans running across the yard greeted them as well.

"Who is it?" asked a voice over the intercom.

"Hello Jeeves," Julia spoke, "it is the Mistress Kon"

"Ah, welcome my Mistress. I shall let you in immediately," the voice responded.

"Thank you Jeeves," Julia said, smiling a little.

A few moments later, the Dobermans disappeared and the large iron gates had opened. The taxi driver drove up the long driveway, and the rest of its occupants, minus Julia of course, marveled at the yard's beauty. There was lush green grass on either side of the driveway, and a few grass sculptures as well as neatly trimmed hedges and marble statues of both people and animals.

The long and somewhat narrow cobblestone driveway lead to a massive mansion situated on the top of a small hill. Jeeves, the butler, came out to greet them, as well as pay the taxi driver. Julia was happy to see him and her home, and greeted him pleasantly. He retuned the greeting, before ushering the teens into her home.

"Welcome home, Mistress Kon. We have missed you so at the house."

"Jeeves, how many times have I told you that you do not need to call me Mistress Kon? You may call me Mistress Julia," Julia scolded.

"Ah, yes my mistress," Jeeves said, embarrassed, "it keeps slipping my mind. Shall I show your guests to their rooms?"

"Yes yes, but first you must be introduced. This is Salima Grey, Hilary Tatibana, Mariam Saint, Tyson Granger, Max Mizuhara, Kai Hiwatari, and last but not least, my brother, Ray Kon," she introduced.

"Ah! Master Kon! It is a pleasure to finally meet you! I've seen you grow, but only in pictures! And of course, I know the Mistresses, welcome ladies. And Master Hiwatari! It's a pleasure to meet you as well! The mistress has been trying to find you ever since she left Russia! The letters were great, but I'm sure she is immensely pleased to see you in person! Welcome everyone, and I hope you have a great stay at this home!"

"Thank you Jeeves," Kai said, the first on to speak up, "it is nice to finally meet the butler I've heard so much about," he reached out to shake Jeeves' hand.

Jeeves bowed before shaking Kai's hand as well.

"Well, Mistress Julia," he said turning to Julia, "shall you be so kind as to share with your guests the many changes you've made to this home for their stay?"

"I suppose I should. Well, first of all, this isn't a new change, but I have a large beyblade arena. Do you remember when you visited the All Starz's facility during your first world tournament?"

"Yeah, that place was huge! And so many training opportunities and places! It was insane!" exclaimed Tyson.

"Well, I have something like that. Of course, it's not exactly like that, but it's the same idea. I also added in a candy store with every possible candy you could ever imagine. I heard how much Max and Tyson like to eat, and so I put that and a 24-hour buffet in. I suppose it may not have been the best idea, but I always want my guests to enjoy their stay. Ray and Kai, I got you guys both rooms that you can meditate and think peacefully in, rooms that only you guys will have access to. The rooms you will sleep in are beside the arena, and they have each been painted in your favorite colors."

"That's so cool! Seems you've been preparing for this for a while," Ray said.

"Well, of course I have! You boys may have only found out about my team the day you met us but I've been doing research on you guys for the past few months! I've known all along that it was you we were going to be paired up with! Of course, I couldn't have done it alone. Mr. Dickenson's been helping me this whole time. He's teamed up with Kenny and together, they've been sending me files and videos and photos of you guys for my analysis!"

"That's just slightly frightening," Max told her.

"Yeah, I know," Julia responded, "but it's helped me to renovate! Now, let's go to your rooms!"

Jeeves led them all up a large marble staircase with red carpeting on the center of the steps. The staircase was in the center of the greeting hallway, and went up straight for a flight, before taking a left turn and a right turn. The rooms were on the right side of the second level.

The first room they encountered (going left to right) was Max's room. The layout of them room, as Julia told them, was the same for every room but each were different colors. In every room, there was a queen-sized bed, a large cherry oak cabinet that held a big screen TV, a large walk-in closet complete with shoe stands, hangers, and drawers for make-up and jewelry and a bathroom. Each bathroom had a large vanity mirror and white marble countertop. Across from it, was a towel stand and a bathtub that had Jacuzzi jets, and of course, towards the end of the bathroom, there was a toilet.

Max's room was painted in sky blue with small hints of fluorescent green and orange. Mariam's room was red, Salima's was royal purple and gold, and Hilary's was pink. Tyson's was a mix of Red, Blue and Yellow. One of the most interesting was Ray's whose room was painted a gold color, giving it a permanent shine, and on the ceiling there was a gold and yellow ying yang sign. Kai's room was also shiny, as it was painted metallic blue, and it had a professionally done glittering red phoenix on the ceiling. Finally, on the end of all these rooms, was Julia's. Naturally, because she lived there, she had a bigger room. Hers was painted with a silver color, and she had a metallic blue and white phoenix on the ceiling, as well as metallic blue stars.

After letting them get settled into their rooms with the help of the butlers, Julia bid Jeeves a good night as he went off to the servant's quarters. Evilly smiling, she then turned to her team. "How about a little truth or dare?" she asked, smirking.

Now, normally any good teen would be up for some truth or dare, but the way she was looking at them frightened them all. They weren't sure if they should decline out of fear or agree out of it. Deciding against the former, they went with the latter and a few 'Why not's' were heard.

"Excellent," she smiled, and led them down to the main living room. Though it was a very big room, Julia managed to make it feel a bit more intimate by making them sit in a close circle. They sat near the large glass coffee table, which was adorned with several bowls of candied confections and other delectable snacks.

Once they were properly seated in a circle, Julia started. "Hmm, my first victim shall be…Hilary! Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," came the response.

"Ok then Hilary, have you had any um…'unpleasant' or somewhat disturbing dreams involving the bladebreakers?" she smirked evilly.

"Well," Hilary blushed, "I did have this one about Kai and Max making out. It was quite…strange." She concluded, obviously embarrassed.

"Ew, that's disgusting!" said Max.

"Yeah, alright, my turn! How about, Ray? Truth or Dare?"

"Ok, I dare you to lick Max's arm!"

"No way!"

"Rules of the game say you have to!" chimed Hilary.

Ray paled considerably and went over to Max, mumbling an embarrassed sorry, before licking his arm. Max looks, if not more, at least as uncomfortable as Ray. When it was all over, Ray wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, downed some water, rinsed, and spit it out.

"That was just nasty," he said, "Ok, my turn now! Hahaha!" they heard Ray laugh an evil laugh that one would not have expected from the calm neko-jin. It was more the kind of sadistic laugh that Bryan of the Blitzkrieg Boys let out. "My victim is KAI!"

Unfazed, Kai gave Ray a challenging look before responding indifferently, "Dare"

At this Ray grinned and Kai began to wonder if he had made a mistake. "Kai, I dare you to sing I'm A Little Teapot, while doing the hand motions!" Ray finished with a cackle, completely uncharacteristic of himself.

Giving Ray a death glare that would have brought grown men to tears, Kai stood up before singing lifelessly, while doing hand motions that made him look like a five year old. Oh, his teammates were going to feel his wrath next practice, that was for sure. Everyone else sitting in the circle tried to watch intently, all failing as they keeled over with laughter and tears began falling from their eyes, blurring their vision considerably. When it was all over, Kai sat back down; pride injured, and began to thing of ways to get his revenge. He couldn't choose Ray again, for he knew what he would do to the poor boy, but decided to release his frustrations on other people he didn't like.

"Tyson, I choose you!" Kai said, and Tyson gulped. "Truth or dare Tyson?"

"Uh, dare!"

"HA! I finally get my revenge! I dare you to go on a diet!"

A loud 'NO' could be heard through the house, as Tyson screamed his agony. "Rules of the game say!" the rest of the group piped in.

Upset, Tyson mumbled a 'fine' and then began thinking of what he would do to his victim whoever that was.

"Alright," Tyson grinned, "Max my man, truth or dare?"

Confidently, Max replied, "Dare"

"Great," Tyson smiled, "now, we all know how much you like Mariam. But does she know? I dare you to show your feelings for her in a kiss, a LONG one," Tyson told him, winking.

Max paled, immediately regretting his choice. Nevertheless, he went over to a blushing Mariam and gave her a long and passionate kiss. They broke apart and heard the rest of their team whooping, which only increased the intensity of their blushing, if possible.

"Well, Mariam, truth or dare?" he asked her, smiling playfully.

Immediately knowing what he was thinking, her cheeks turned a bit pink yet she smirked, before saying "Dare"

"I dare you to let me do that again," he said.

More whooping and 'OH's' were heard as those words left his mouth, and towards the end people began becoming sick of their public displays of affection. Finally pulling apart, for the human body needs air to function, Mariam thought for a moment before saying, "Salima my dear, truth or dare?"

Not wanting to be the victim of a terrible dare, for god knew what went on in Mariam's conniving mind, she was obliged to select truth.

"Truth eh? Well, why don't we share with everyone that fun time you had at my birthday this year," Mariam suggested, smirking evilly. "You know, the one where you made out with a certain picture of a certain someone"

Salima blushed, but knew that she was forced to tell all. "Well, on June 3rd, Mariam had turned 14 and well, we planned to have her party here, seeing as it had the most space and Julia's parents let her do practically anything. Anyway, we invited a few of our closest friends over and one of them, a guy of course, has a certain, well let's call it fondness, for alcoholic beverages. He came over and of course, as suspected, brought alcohol with him. Mind you, he's a really nice guy and rarely drinks enough to get drunk but whatever. Usually he just keeps the stuff to himself, but this time, he decided to share. I didn't know the punch was spiked, I swear! So, I drank from it and got a little bit tipsy…"

"A little tipsy?" Julia piped in. "Oh no girl, you were piss drunk!"

Salima rolled her eyes, "Whatever," she said. "Either way, I wasn't in my right mind. First, I roamed around Julia's house until I got to the hallway near her room, which is where we're staying. On the wall and on a little hall table, she had like, I don't know, maybe a few pictures of Ray. Again, whatever, I was totally drunk, so I took the one that looked most hot and pretty much made out with it. Mind you, I was totally gone! I had no recollection of it! In fact, if Mariam hadn't been so kind as to share those events with me, I probably wouldn't have known I did it!"

"By the way," Julia piped in again, "I immediately removed that picture from the hall, it's no longer there, but this isn't the end of her story," she told the bladebreakers who already had somewhat shocked looks on their faces, Ray's being the most comical.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Do you want to stop interrupting?" asked Salima, annoyed.

"Sure," Julia smiled, "sorry"

"It's ok. As she said, that's not the end of it. Apparently, I went up to one of Julia's butlers, not Jeeves, and tried to seduce him. Mariam, again, told me that the look on the poor guys face was priceless, but I'm sure my attempts were even more so. From what I heard, I drew quite a crowd that night," Salima finished.

"And don't forget that the Dobermans nearly ate you!" chimed Hilary.

Salima groaned. "Do we HAVE to mention that?"

"Of course," agreed Mariam evilly.

Salima sighed, embarrassed, before continuing, "Well, ok, so I didn't know that her alarm to the mansion was on so I went outside. From what the girls and everyone else told me, I was trying to flash the gardener"

At this, she got a collective gasp of shock.

"Yeah, yeah, marvel at my stupidity why don't you? Anyway, like I said, I was outside and I stepped out of the protected area. Naturally, when I tried to get back in, the alarm went off and the Dobermans came out, fangs and drool and growls and all. I was drunk, but still in my right mind to be scared of them," she told them.

"Again, she's enough in her right mind to sense her fear of dogs, but not enough to stop herself from making out with a photo. Strange? I think so!" Mariam winked, making Salima blush.

"Shut up!" Salima yelled at Mariam angrily. "It doesn't matter, in the end, Hilary saw me from the window and shut off the alarm, sending the dogs away. So there you have it, that's my story. Now Julia, Truth or Dare?"

Julia thought for a while and finally responded, "Dare, I'm not scared of you"

Salima smirked evilly before replying, "You should be. I dare you to give Kai a, um, how should I put this, more-than-friendly backrub," she ended with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Knowing that Salima was probably going to select something with Kai, Julia wasn't too surprised, but a little bit annoyed at her team's persistence. She and Salima noticed Kai tense at the description of the dare, and he went upright. Again, Salima smirked. "Look at him Julia! He's so tense! He's just begging for a backrub!"

Glaring at her friend and at the already laughing teammates, Julia rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever, leave him alone."

"Only if you do the dare," Salima chimed.

"Whatever," Julia said again before walking over to Kai. "Look," she said to him, "they're a bunch of idiots trying to make us get together because we're best friends. So just let me do this stupid dare and maybe they'll back off for a while."

Still stiff, Kai nodded, tensing even further when Julia pushed herself against his back, her arms draping over his shoulder, and began massaging the muscles in his shoulders.

"Just relax," she whispered, noticing how tense he got.

Taking her advice, he let his shoulders sag a bit, but was too embarrassed at the current time to look up at the faces of his teammates, who he was sure, were laughing silently.

Julia continued to massage his shoulders, glad that she had something to focus on, for she too was becoming increasingly embarrassed and she wasn't entirely sure why. I mean sure, she was doing an embarrassing dare to one of her best friends, but that was the problem! He was her best friend! It shouldn't have been that weird of a feeling! In the end, she blamed it on the fact she hadn't see him for a long while, and now they were teenagers with chemical imbalances called hormones. Almost absentmindedly, she moved her hands around his waist and with her thumbs, she began to massage the lower sides of his back.

Kai, while he would never admit it, was enjoying the massage somewhat. It was true that he had been tense and needed to relax a bit, but this was definitely not the way he'd wanted to do it. His idea of relaxation was to go in that meditation room Julia had set up for his, and to just lie there and think, or listen to some of his favorite music. However, this wasn't a bad alternative, minus, of course, the fact that every one of their teammates was watching them with increasing interest.

For a moment, he raised his head and looked at Ray, secretly hoping that the boy would soon do the only right brotherly thing to do, get mad and pull Julia away. Unfortunately, it seemed that the years of separation between the siblings had stripped Ray of all those overprotective brotherly feelings inside, and it showed by the way Ray was snickering and giving Kai a knowing gaze.

'Idiot,' Kai thought, referring to Ray, 'what the heck is he staring at anyway? And what's up with that look he's giving me? Does he really think that Julia and me like each other? Ugh! That man should be held in contempt of his own sanity! Crazy idiot…and I thought he was smart! Wrong about that one, that's for sure.'

Through all this thinking, he had nearly forgotten about the massage and, snapping back to reality, he noticed that he had become more relaxed. Smirking, he turned to Julia, who was now working his upper back, and whispered, "You're pretty good at this. Maybe you should go into it professionally"

She shook her head, before replying, "In your dreams. Now, sit up, I'm done."

Much to the dismay of Kai and Julia, as soon as the two got up and raised their heads to face their teammates, each and every one of them had a big grin on their faces.

"Oh, for the love of god," Julia said, exasperatedly, "can you all stop smiling like a bunch of idiotic fools?"

"Ooh, someone's getting irritated," teased Max, but he was immediately silence with a death glare from Julia that sent shivers up his spine.

"Kai and Julia sitting in a tree…K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage…" Tyson began singing.

"Tyson," Kai warned, "if you want to live to see tomorrow, you will stop this nonsense at ONCE," he gave a glare for emphasis.

Tyson gulped and immediately sat back down, silenced. A few moments passed before Hilary started speaking. "Hey guys, that's not such a bad idea! I mean, this game's getting kind of boring, so why don't we do something more fun, like karaoke?" she suggested cheerfully.

This seemed to raise almost every one's spirits. "Sure!" was the general chorus of voices. All except for one.

"I don't sing," the voice spoke coldly.

"Aw, come on Kai! What do you have to lose?" whined Max.

"My dignity," came the cold reply.

It seemed as though once again, the party was going to be ruined thanks to the unwilling participation of Kai, when Julia came up with an idea. At once her face brightened up, and she walked over to Kai and whispered something in his ear. Again, the rest of their team got stupid knowing grins on their faces, almost positive that this would convince him. And by Julia's reaction after talking to him, they knew it had.

"Ok, he said yes!" Julia announced happily, "but we need to use the elevator to get up to the 10th floor, where I have the stuff set up!"

Together, the teams walked to the elevator and went upstairs, where they found the room and opened the door. The Bladebreakers, though not entirely surprised after seeing the house, were fairly astonished at the room she had set up. Most of the time, especially in Bakuten, karaoke usually meant a bunch of bored teens sitting around singing into a small machine with a portable microphone. Here, in Julia's house, karaoke pretty much meant a rock concert in front of a small live audience! There was a mini platform stage, with many tables and chairs around it. On the stage there were 4 microphones, 2 electric guitars (as well as 2 acoustic ones on the side), a drum set, and a keyboard.

"Welcome to my humble music room," Julia said to them, "I have already chosen that it's going to be each of us with a solo and then at the end, the boys get into a group, and the girls get into a group. The order of solos will go like this; Ray, Salima, Tyson, Hilary, Max, Mariam, Kai and finally me. I can't leave the guests with no fun, now can I? Oh, and if you're not up singing, please sit at one of the tables. Ray, darling brother, you have about 10 minutes to think of a song, and my staff will more than happily assist you in any playing of the instruments."

Ray paled slightly and nodded, then went off to think of the perfect song to sing. The rest of the team sat down and anxiously awaited his arrival on stage.


	4. A Big Surprise

**AN:** Hello there readers! First of all, I would like to give my sincerest apologies for the major wait on this chapter. I've been kind of into another fandom and I had something planned for this chapter that didn't end up working and it took me about a month to realize that. Well, without further ado, here it is: your chapter 4!

Disclaimer: I do _not _own beyblade.

* * *

Ray came out a few minutes later, looking a bit nervous but prepared nevertheless. Apparently, he had told Julia's staff what song he was going to do, for they had set everything up that they'd need, and were standing behind their instruments.

He was just about to start his solo, when a loud crash was heard in the house. Startled, and a bit frightened by it, the team went peered outside the door of the music room only to be met with 30 large figures, cloaked in black. Julia and Ray sensed the danger, and being neko-jin's, felt their pupils retract into dangerous slits, practically glaring holes through their intruders. Kai, Mariam, and Max were also ready for any battle that may ensue.

For a moment, it seemed that the figures were turning away, leaving, and subconsciously, everyone let their guard down a little. Bad idea. The next moment, all 30 figures had turned back sharply and charged at the teens. Mariam, Max, and Kai were standing behind Ray and Julia, and were the first to take action. All 3 launched their beyblades at the intruders, startling them. This gave Ray and Julia time to recover and the two started going at the cloaked figures, doing their special tag-team martial arts on them, cutting the number of intruders down to about 20.

Hilary, Salima, and Tyson had joined them by now, and had launched their beyblades, as well fighting physically with anyone that came close to them. It seemed for a moment that one of the guys was going to get Julia from behind, when she saw Ray come at her with his fist. Quickly reacting, she ducked, letting his blow fall on the unsuspecting man behind her.

It seemed as if the intruders would have certainly overpowered the teens by now, seeing as they were all large and muscular grown men, but the newly formed team of Bladebreakers and Mystics were holding their own out there. A beyblade zoomed by Hilary's head, and the force of it knocked off the hood that was concealing the face of one of the cloaked figures that had just showed up and didn't appear to be as strong as the other intruders. His hood fell only for a moment, and Julia looked up at his face in a mix between anger, surprise, confusion, and horror. Ray, who saw her looking up, looked up as well, but it was too late. The figure had put his hood back on, and it concealed his face.

The battle between the intruders and the team lasted for another 20 minutes, before the cloaked figures suddenly up and left.

"Well, that was strange," Hilary said, more to break the silence than anything else.

It didn't work. A few nods were given in her direction after she spoke, but no one really said anything. They all walked to their rooms, and upon reaching the doors, Julia whispered to Ray, "I need to talk to you."

He nodded but didn't say anything and waited for the others to go into their rooms. When it was just the two of them, they went into Julia's room, not knowing that someone was watching them.

"So," Ray started, sitting down on Julia's bed, "what did you want to talk about?"

"Ray," she replied, "while I haven't seen you much in my life you're still my big brother and I trust you the most out of anyone, so this is why I'm only telling you this. I saw someone familiar when that guy's hood went down, someone I used to know really well."

"Ok, who was it?"

"You're not going to believe me, but it was Tala."

"Tala, huh? And you weren't planning on telling me, were you?" a new voice asked.

Both startled, Ray and Julia looked up to see the outline of a guy leaning against the wall, his face hidden by the shadows. But they didn't need to see his face, they knew who he was by the voice.

"Yeah, Kai, I wasn't going to tell you," Julia replied.

"Hn," came the grunt of the obviously offended Kai.

"Anyway," she turned back to Ray, "there was something different about him. I worry that Biovolt got him again."

"How though? Wasn't it disbanded?"

"I don't know," she admitted truthfully, "I thought it was but it may not have been. He might have stayed with them, or worse, they may be keeping him against his own will!"

Ray sighed and rubbed his temples. This sure wasn't getting any easier. "So, wait, here's something I don't understand; why the hell is Biovolt after us? I mean, Kai and you left ages ago! They could have tracked you down until now."

"Well, again big brother, I'm not sure but they may be the enemy described in the prophecy."

Again he sighed; this prophecy thing was becoming a bigger headache by the minute.

"Maybe," Kai suggested, "we should have a meeting with Mr. Dickenson"

Tired and frustrated, Ray shot a glare filled with annoyance at the other boy. "And what good would that do us? What would we tell him? 'Oh hi sir, we're all part of a prophecy and we need to kill an evil thing that we think may be Biovolt.' Oh yes, I'm sure that'd go perfectly amazing."

Kai returned the glare, "It was just a suggestion."

"And it was a good one," Julia piped in. "He may not be able to help much, but maybe he's heard of the prophecy too. Come to think of it, he should know it, seeing as how he keeps in touch with those bitbeast archaeologists. He may even know more about the evil we have to face. Yeah, I'll schedule a meeting with him for tomorrow."

Pulling out her cell phone, she called his office, and the receptionist told her that he had an opening for 8:30am tomorrow. After having confirmed the meeting, she went to everyone's door and knocked to tell them about how they needed to go to the BBA Canadian branch. No one really said a word about the news, just nodded thoughtfully and closed their doors afterwards.

-The Next Morning-

Julia had scheduled wake up calls for the entire team at 7:30am. Now, it was 7:29 and she could hardly wait to hear the sleepy groans that would soon fill the halls of the mansion.

She looked at the clock.

7:29am

7:29am

7:29am

7:30am

'Yes!' she thought as she heard the pleasing sound of her teammates groaning and yawning.

They had been given wake-up calls, but not the most pleasant ones. First, opened a window, letting the cold February air attack their senses. Then, as the sleeping figures would pull the covers closer to them, the servants would grasp the covers firmly and throw them off the bed, leaving the bed's occupant shivering. Finally, to add insult to injury, the servants would open the dark curtains, letting the harsh sunlight hit their eyes.

Knowing that they were going to a meeting, the girls all felt the need to wear something that fit the occasion. They all wore pinstripe suits, but each had a different colored shirt underneath. Mariam's shirt as usual was emerald, Salima's was purple, Hilary's was pink, and Julia's was crimson.

The boys, not really caring much about the meeting because they had seen Mr. Dickenson on so many occasions, just stayed in their regular outfits (V-Force).

Julia's cooks had prepared breakfast downstairs, and the pleasant smell of waffles, bacon, and eggs floated upstairs, filling the senses of the team with delight. Rushing downstairs, they all sat at a large circular mahogany table, and filled their plates with various foods.

After breakfast, a limo took them to the BBA Canadian Headquarters, which was located close to the Distillery District. The cobblestone road and pedestrian streets were a favorite sight of Julia's and she was delighted any time she made a trip down to the BBA. While most BBA head offices seemed to be large skyscraper, modern buildings, and the one in Canada was a large, historic looking building, making it fit in with surrounding scenery.

She walked inside calmly, although she was quite unsure of what she would say once in the meeting room. Perhaps, it hadn't been as good of an idea as she'd originally thought. But still, she needed to know more.

The rest of the team walked on, silent, as they approached the elevators that would take them to Mr. Dickenson's office. Even in the elevator, no one said a word. After all, there wasn't much they could talk about that wouldn't bring them back to the unwanted topic of what to do next.

At the door of his office, Mr. Dickenson greeted them merrily yet they could all see that questioning look in his eye. Inviting them in, they seated themselves at a large rectangular table. He gave them a look that questioned why they were here and what they needed to tell him.

"Sir," Salima started, aware that no one was really going to say anything, "last night we were attacked by these cloaked figures at Julia's mansion."

"What? Cloaked figures?" Mr. Dickenson asked, shocked.

"Yes sir, we think that they may have been after our bit beasts, but we're not sure who they were or their true intentions. Obviously, they were not sent to help us though. We think this may have something to do with a certain prophecy and we were wondering if you knew anything about one."

"A prophecy? Are you talking about the one where the 8 most sacred spirits ruled the 4 corners of the globe, and were defeated by an evil presence?"

"I think that's the one. Did it say anything about the evil coming back after a millennia?"

Mr. Dickenson was deep in thought for a few moments before he responded, "Yes, I do believe we are talking about the same one."

At this point Julia butted in. "Please sir, do you know anything about the evil we're supposed to be fighting? Who it is?"

"I'm sorry, no. I just learnt that there was an evil presence that defeated the sacred spirits. I do know this though; the spirits who defeated them were amazingly strong. I think there were only about 4 of them, and they defeated the 8 spirits who were supposed to be most powerful. And…now hold on a minute! What does any of this have to do with you children?"

"We're the ones the prophecy is talking about; we're the kids with the 8 most sacred spirits," Julia told him.

At this news, the old man was about to fall off his chair! "What? But you're just children! And this is the year when the prophecy shall be fulfilled!"

"We are very much aware of that sir."

"That's the reason we came here Mr. Dickenson," Tyson said, "because we wanted to see if you had some information that we didn't know about."

"Well kids, I'm sorry, but I know as much as you do about this. Just please promise me you won't get yourselves into trouble."

"We promise sir," Hilary told the man, "and we should really go now. We've already taken up too much of your time. We'll see you at the tournament!"

Mr. Dickenson seemed reluctant to let them leave but did nothing about it but yell after them, "Be careful!"

The team turned around and all gave him reassuring smiles that they wouldn't get themselves into too much trouble. Then, they turned back around and walked out of the large building.

"Hey guys, I just realized something," said Max.

"What is it?" asked Tyson.

"Now that we're going to start the tournament soon, and we're going to be combining teams, don't we need a team name?"

"Yeah, you're right! We should think of one!"

"Guys, I have a feeling we're not alone," Ray told them, sensing danger.

Sure enough, a few moments later the group was surrounded by the hooded figures once again.

"Oh man, not you guys again!" Hilary cried.

The figures said nothing, just took out their beyblades and launched them at the group of teens. Lightning quick, the team launched theirs as well and the battle began.

Just like the night before, there were moments when it appeared that the cloaked figures were going to win when the Mystics/Bladebreakers came back and vice-versa.

Julia looked out at the mass of cloaked figures for a few moments before she spotted the one she was looking for. Going after him specifically, she tore her beyblade away from the group of her friends and went after him. Her first move was to push his hood off, and make sure that she wasn't just hallucinating the night before.

When finally she'd managed to accomplish said task, she saw that indeed her suspicions from the previous night had proved correct; the person she was fighting was indeed Tala. His eyes were a bit foggy, and his hair seemed even more strange than usual. Julia figured out that he must already be under the control of someone else, for he probably would not attack her otherwise.

"Tala!" she called out to him, hoping that he'd remember who she was and stop attacking.

He looked at her for a few moments, almost as if he was trying to remember her face, but then his eyes hardened and he began to attack. His beyblade was new and held a lot more power than she'd ever seen coming from Wolborg. She guessed that he probably wasn't using Wolborg anymore.

The battle between the two raged on, and the whole world seemed to disappear as they fought each other. Even both sides of their teammates had stopped fighting each other and were now intently focused on their battle. Julia made a move to finish off Tala, but his eyes flickered suddenly and he spontaneously attacked back.

Truth be told, Tala was getting a little tired of this; he'd been battling for what seemed hours though in reality was only minutes, and it was becoming boring for him. Sure, this girl he was facing seemed to have some power, but it was nothing compared to his. He decided to make a final attack, and maybe destroy her blade; after all, it was his mission.

"Black Dranzer! Final attack!" he called out to his beyblade, and by the look on the girl's face, she was shocked.

'What?' Julia thought, 'Black Dranzer? But how? Didn't it get destroyed after the incident with Kai?' She turned to look at Kai, and saw that he was just as shocked and confused as she was.

Black Dranzer glowed and went in for the attack, but at the last moment Tala felt a pang of hurt in his chest, one that did not seem to subside, only get worse with time, and called Black Dranzer back to his hand. He, as well as everyone else were confused about what he'd done, but he just shrugged it off and made a motion to the other cloaked bladers to leave with him.

Though confused, they asked no questions and went with him obediently, leaving the Mystics/Bladebreakers stunned.

"What the hell was that all about?" Tyson asked.

"I don't know…" answered Ray, recovering from the shock of what had just happened. He then added, "Hey Julia, are you ok?"

Everyone's attention seemed to revert to the now shaking girl, though no one could tell from what she was shaking.

"I'm going after them," she said.

"What?!" yelled Kai and Ray at the same time.

"Are you crazy? You'll get yourself killed!" Kai told her.

"It's a risk I'm willing to take. Look, you saw how he was and what power he controlled. Black Dranzer was supposed to be destroyed Kai, and guess what? He's not! So I have to go before the insanity of all this consumes my best friend! You have no idea how many times Tala's put his life on the line for me, and now it's time I did the same," she responded.

"But-" Ray began.

"But nothing! I'm going and that's that!"

Ray began to get somewhat of a murderous look in his eyes, but everyone knew he was just concerned for Julia, who was being too stubborn about something she shouldn't do. Ray was about to leap after her, hoping to shake some sense into her, but someone held him back.

"Tyson?"

"Let her go Ray. You know she's never going to agree with you on this, and this is something she has to do. Dude, she's better friends with Tala than anyone here is; if someone could shake him off this evil, it's her."

"Tyson's right," Kai put in, "she's not going to listen to you. When she gets like this, she doesn't let anything stop her."

Obviously defeated, Ray gave a heavy sigh and just walked away. When Max asked where he was going, he'd replied, "I need to think," and stalked off.

The others left him and headed off for Julia's house, where Julia began packing. She had gotten her best people to track down where Tala and the rest of his crew went, and she'd discovered that they'd rendezvoused with a plane that had taken them to Brazil. After that, she'd set up something with Mr. Dickenson and he'd leant her a jet so that she too could fly there, although, he was completely unaware of her intentions.

Meanwhile, Ray was walking down the streets of downtown Toronto, trying to sort out his thoughts and feelings about Julia wanting to leave them.

'She's a big girl now, but I'm her brother; I should always be there. And plus, she's just a teen! She shouldn't be going by herself into life-threatening situations!'

'But she is stubborn…she probably won't listen to anyone. And, I guess she always has her cell phone with her, so we'll be able to keep in touch. But still, I'm her brother! I should be there with her!'

'You have to let her go sometime…yet…I haven't got to see her for most of my life, and we're just starting to connect…I don't want to lose her!'

His thoughts about this matter continued arguing with each other, and he was starting to get a big headache from the whole thing. By the time he reached the house, he'd made up his mind about what he had to do. Rushing in to her room where she was packing, he flung open the door and engulfed her in a big hug.

Confused, she awkwardly hugged him back, and waited for him to let go of her.

"I've made my decision," he told her solemnly, "and I've decided to let you go, with the condition of you giving us an e-mail or a phone call or something at least once a week."

Julia gave him a wide smile, and squealed as she flung her arms around his neck.

"Thank you so much Ray, you're the best!" She practically yelled into his ear upon hearing his approval.

"Yeah, yeah, just promise me you'll keep in touch," he said in reply to her screaming.

She nodded enthusiastically, glad that he'd finally understood her situation.

"So, you are leaving then?" someone else asked.

Both Ray and Julia jumped a foot in the air and nearly had heart attacks at the sound of another voice entering their conversation.

Julia looked to the door and yelled again, "God damn it Kai! Don't you ever knock?"

He gave a small smirk and replied, "Now, where's the fun in that?"

Julia just rolled her eyes at him, and replied, "You're so weird and yeah, I am going to go."

"OK, I trust you have everything you'll need."

"Of course, and I'll be sure to call or email at least once a week so you know I'm alive."

"Good, and if you need any help…" Kai trailed off, not wanting to say the rest of the sentence.

Julia understood what he meant though, and nodded, "If I need any help, you two will be the first ones I'll call."

That night the whole team went to see her off to her plane and many sad goodbyes were uttered. Eventually though, she had to depart and leave them all; her home, her friends, her security and certainty to go help her best friend. What the conditions were like down there? She wasn't sure, but she knew that she was making the right decision by going.

* * *

**AN:** Well there's chapter 4! Hopefully it was worth the wait! As always, I encourage you, the reader to leave as long and detailed a review as you see fit. I would greatly appreciate any constructive crit you guys have to offer me, whether it be content or spelling/grammar related, I urge you to please write it down! Also, if you have any ideas you'd like me to incorporate, please let me know and I will do my best to accomodate that.


End file.
